I go with the Christian belief on creation, and I do believe that the world came from God. I believe the story of creation from the book of Genesis, and that in 7 days God created the universe. I really believe this because of my faith, if no other reason, and because that is what I have always thought. It does not seem very possible that the world could have exploded into existence from nothing, nor do I believe in any other deities that could have created the world. In addition, I go with the Christian belief on why there is evil in the world as well. I believe that it was because of the original sin, when Adam took a bite of the fruit from the tree which God told them not to eat from. Many say that this is a silly belief. If there really is an all powerful God who loves us, and wants nothing but the best for us, then why was the tree put there in the first place? This is because God gave us free will. The tree was put there so that we could have a choice, and not just be puppets that were no more intelligent than any other animal in existence at the time. Because of the choice Adam made, evil entered the world.
The question of what happens after we die is a very important question for a lot of people. Modern society likes to know what to expect, be it a new album from a popular artist, or what wars are going on now, and the many other things happening in the world right now. But because no one can die and then come back to speak of their experience, what happens after death is still one of the biggest questions in the world. Many people believe that when we die, we simply die, and there is nothing after death. However, the people who do believe in a deity or other power believe that there is an afterlife. For myself, I believe that when you die, you stand judgment before God, and you are either sent away to Heaven or to Hell. This brings many to another big question if they believe in the Christian afterlife. How can I get to heaven? This ties right in to the question of how we should live life on Earth. I believe that on Earth, you should try to build up a relationship with God, having a time devoted to prayer and study of the Bible, and that you should strive to follow what God wants you to.
Jack: How can I receive the best karma?
Guru: You must live according to your dharma, which at the stage of life you are in currently would be concentrating on your studies in school. In addition, strive to practice forms of yoga and become closer to god.
Jack: What will happen when I die?
Guru: When you die, you will be reborn, and based on your karma, advance into the next caste, stay in your present one, ore move down a caste.
Jack: How can I achieve moksha?
Guru: You must live according to your dharma in every lifetime that you are given, until you reach the caste of brahmin and live a life in which you follow your dharma perfectly and practice yoga to the full extent.
Day 1: Today is Friday, and after a hectic week, coming back to school and what not, I found it extremely difficult to empty my head when I started my assigned meditation. For all of those 5 minutes, I found my self focusing on one assignment or the next, or the fact that we would have a quiz the Monday we come back. Due to all these thoughts, I found it extremely hard to be fully mindful. Another thing that made it hard, was the fact that I am not used to sitting and doing nothing. Usually when I am siting somewhere quite by myself, I am usually on a computer, or watching TV. So this also made it incredibly difficult to be mindful and empty my head. This continued through the whole 5 minutes.
Day 2: On Saturday, I found it a little easier. I had studied for the quiz and finished the homework, so that reduced the weight on my mind by a lot. I still found it difficult to stay in one place with no distraction for only 5 minutes however, and this again kept me from being truly empty. I kept coming back to the thoughts of a new video game I had just purchased. If I was up playing it, I could work to max out all my stats and dominate the multiplayer world. So this was a limitation to becoming truly passive.
Day 3: On the last day of meditation, I realized something about myself while sitting and doing nothing. Despite me trying, my mind did not want to do nothing. Not only was it preoccupied with other things such as the party we had later or that new video game, I found it to be incredibly trivial to do this. Despite what science and others say, I am incredibly stubborn, so this meant that my brain would not give up trying to think of something to ease the dullness of my current task. So in the end, I guess meditation is not exactly for me.
If I were God, and I was given a chance to change the Ten Commandments, I do not think that I would. My reasons for this are that the rules established by the Ten Commandments are rules that I think everyone should follow, as they are good rules. Most of them are what other religions say and even some of our laws in the US today say. And my last reason being this. If God gave Moses the rules in the first place, then who am I to argue with him. According to the bible, God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. I am none of those things, so why would I argue with the person that is.
The one parable that I can relate to is the parable of the good Samaritan. In 6th grade, I knew no one other than a handful of people at Berkeley, so for the first part of the year, I sat by myself at a lunch table. I was fine with it, but eventually, it got a bit lonely. And eventually, another kid sat down with me. We became good friends through the rest of the year, and I still talk to him on a regular basis. All because he took time to come and say hi. This is like the Good Samaritan, because there was only one man who went to help this other man, and there was one of my peers who took the time to come and sit with me, showing friendship.
I think that the impressions that many Americans have against the Muslims probably comes from the radicals. Attacks like 9/11 and the acts of terrorism in the middle east. From these actions, many Americans see the community of Islam painted in a horrible light. What might lead to eventually combating the horrible views that the terrorists put out for the Muslims in America. If they did more to diffused the things that people thought about them, not like an apology, but proving that they have nothing to do with it, more Americans might not think so badly of them.
The question of what happens after we die is a very important question for a lot of people. Modern society likes to know what to expect, be it a new album from a popular artist, or what wars are going on now, and the many other things happening in the world right now. But because no one can die and then come back to speak of their experience, what happens after death is still one of the biggest questions in the world. Many people believe that when we die, we simply die, and there is nothing after death. However, the people who do believe in a deity or other power believe that there is an afterlife. For myself, I believe that when you die, you stand judgment before God, and you are either sent away to Heaven or to Hell. This brings many to another big question if they believe in the Christian afterlife. How can I get to heaven? This ties right in to the question of how we should live life on Earth. I believe that on Earth, you should try to build up a relationship with God, having a time devoted to prayer and study of the Bible, and that you should strive to follow what God wants you to.
Jack: How can I receive the best karma?
Guru: You must live according to your dharma, which at the stage of life you are in currently would be concentrating on your studies in school. In addition, strive to practice forms of yoga and become closer to god.
Jack: What will happen when I die?
Guru: When you die, you will be reborn, and based on your karma, advance into the next caste, stay in your present one, ore move down a caste.
Jack: How can I achieve moksha?
Guru: You must live according to your dharma in every lifetime that you are given, until you reach the caste of brahmin and live a life in which you follow your dharma perfectly and practice yoga to the full extent.
Day 1: Today is Friday, and after a hectic week, coming back to school and what not, I found it extremely difficult to empty my head when I started my assigned meditation. For all of those 5 minutes, I found my self focusing on one assignment or the next, or the fact that we would have a quiz the Monday we come back. Due to all these thoughts, I found it extremely hard to be fully mindful. Another thing that made it hard, was the fact that I am not used to sitting and doing nothing. Usually when I am siting somewhere quite by myself, I am usually on a computer, or watching TV. So this also made it incredibly difficult to be mindful and empty my head. This continued through the whole 5 minutes.
Day 2: On Saturday, I found it a little easier. I had studied for the quiz and finished the homework, so that reduced the weight on my mind by a lot. I still found it difficult to stay in one place with no distraction for only 5 minutes however, and this again kept me from being truly empty. I kept coming back to the thoughts of a new video game I had just purchased. If I was up playing it, I could work to max out all my stats and dominate the multiplayer world. So this was a limitation to becoming truly passive.
Day 3: On the last day of meditation, I realized something about myself while sitting and doing nothing. Despite me trying, my mind did not want to do nothing. Not only was it preoccupied with other things such as the party we had later or that new video game, I found it to be incredibly trivial to do this. Despite what science and others say, I am incredibly stubborn, so this meant that my brain would not give up trying to think of something to ease the dullness of my current task. So in the end, I guess meditation is not exactly for me.
If I were God, and I was given a chance to change the Ten Commandments, I do not think that I would. My reasons for this are that the rules established by the Ten Commandments are rules that I think everyone should follow, as they are good rules. Most of them are what other religions say and even some of our laws in the US today say. And my last reason being this. If God gave Moses the rules in the first place, then who am I to argue with him. According to the bible, God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. I am none of those things, so why would I argue with the person that is.
The one parable that I can relate to is the parable of the good Samaritan. In 6th grade, I knew no one other than a handful of people at Berkeley, so for the first part of the year, I sat by myself at a lunch table. I was fine with it, but eventually, it got a bit lonely. And eventually, another kid sat down with me. We became good friends through the rest of the year, and I still talk to him on a regular basis. All because he took time to come and say hi. This is like the Good Samaritan, because there was only one man who went to help this other man, and there was one of my peers who took the time to come and sit with me, showing friendship.
I think that the impressions that many Americans have against the Muslims probably comes from the radicals. Attacks like 9/11 and the acts of terrorism in the middle east. From these actions, many Americans see the community of Islam painted in a horrible light. What might lead to eventually combating the horrible views that the terrorists put out for the Muslims in America. If they did more to diffused the things that people thought about them, not like an apology, but proving that they have nothing to do with it, more Americans might not think so badly of them.